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THE CHEMICAL GAZETTE. No. CCCCIII.—August 1, 1859. SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICINAL CHEMISTRY. On Cresylic Alcohol. By Lucien Duclos. According to Fairlie coal-tar contains, besides phenylic alcohol, C 1 - H 6 CP, another alcohol which he calls cresylic alcohol, and which, according to him, has the formula C H H 8 0 2 , and would therefore be isomeric with benzylic alcohol. The author has investigated this body in Will’s laboratory. He prepared cresylic alcohol by the process described by Fairlie, from coal-tar creosote, and from the wood-tar of the gas-works at Giessen. The wood-tar was distilled by itself, and the portion passing between 302° and 428° F. and containing the creosote, was treated with concentrated solution of soda in order to remove the hydro carbons; this treatment was repeated with the product separated by dilute sulphuric acid from the alkaline solution until this dissolved completely and formed a clear solution in solution of soda. After washing with water and drying over chloride of calcium, it was sub mitted to fractional distillation. The portion boiling at 369° F. and consisting of phenylic alcohol, was collected separately from that boiling at 397° F., which con tained cresylic alcohol. The cresylic alcohol thus prepared, C 14 II 8 (P, had all the proper ties ascribed to it by Fairlie. The author, however, found, that, in opposition to the statement in Gerhardt’s ‘ Traite de Chimie Orga- nique,’ iv. p. 1029, cresylic alcohol is not perceptibly less soluble than phenylic alcohol in ammonia. Flydrate of cresyle is miscible in all proportions with alcohol and aether. Fir-wood, soaked in its aqueous solution, and then moistened with muriatic acid, acquires a blue colour when exposed to the sun's light. Nitric acid, whether cold or hot, produces a violent reaction with it, and furnishes a brown uncrystallizable substance. Potas sium and sodium, when gently heated, evolve hydrogen gas, and the Chem. Gaz. 1859. Q